RPG Evolution: The Trouble with Halflings

Over the decades I've developed my campaign world to match the archetypes my players wanted to play. In all those years, nobody's ever played a halfling.

Picture courtesy of Pixabay.​

So What's the Problem?​

Halflings, derived from hobbits, have been a curious nod to Tolkien's influence on fantasy. While dwarves and elves have deep mythological roots, hobbits are more modern inventions. And their inclusion was very much a response to the adventurous life that the agrarian homebodies considered an aberration. In short, most hobbits didn't want to be adventurers, and Bilbo, Frodo, and the others were forever changed by their experiences, such that it was difficult for them to reintegrate when they returned home. You don't hear much about elves and dwarves having difficulty returning home after being adventurers, and for good reason. Tolkien was making a point about the human condition and the nature of war by using hobbits as proxies.

As a literary construct, hobbits serve a specific purpose. In The Hobbit, they are proxies for children. In The Lord of the Rings, they are proxies for farmers and other folk who were thrust into the industrialized nightmare of mass warfare. In both cases, hobbits were a positioned in contrast to the violent lifestyle of adventurers who live and die by the sword.

Which is at least in part why they're challenging to integrate into a campaign world. And yet, we have strong hobbit archetypes in Dungeons & Dragons, thanks to Dragonlance.

Kender. Kender Are the Problem​

I did know one player who loved to play kender. We never played together in a campaign, at least in part because kender are an integral part of the Dragonlance setting and we weren't playing in Dragonlance. But he would play a kender in every game he played, including in massive multiplayers like Ultima Online. And he was eye-rollingly aggravating, as he loved "borrowing" things from everyone (a trait established by Tasselhoff Burrfoot).

Part of the issue with kender is that they aren't thieves, per se, but have a child-like curiosity that causes them to "borrow" things without understanding that borrowing said things without permission is tantamount to stealing in most cultures. In essence, it results in a character who steals but doesn't admit to stealing, which can be problematic for inter-party harmony. Worse, kender have a very broad idea of what to "borrow" (which is not limited to just valuables) and have always been positioned as being offended by accusations of thievery. It sets up a scenario where either the party is very tolerant of the kender or conflict ensues. This aspect of kender has been significantly minimized in the latest draft for Unearthed Arcana.

Big Heads, Little Bodies​

The latest incarnation of halflings brings them back to the fun-loving roots. Their appearance is decidedly not "little children" or "overweight short people." Rather, they appear more like political cartoons of eras past, where exaggerated features were used as caricatures, adding further to their comical qualities. But this doesn't solve the outstanding problem that, for a game that is often about conflict, the original prototypes for halflings avoided it. They were heroes precisely because they were thrust into difficult situations and had to rise to the challenge. That requires significant work in a campaign to encourage a player to play a halfling character who would rather just stay home.

There's also the simple matter of integrating halflings into societies where they aren't necessarily living apart. Presumably, most human campaigns have farmers; dwarves and elves occupy less civilized niches, where halflings are a working class who lives right alongside the rest of humanity in plain sight. Figuring out how to accommodate them matters a lot. Do humans just treat them like children? Would halflings want to be anywhere near a larger humanoids' dwellings as a result? Or are halflings given mythical status like fey? Or are they more like inveterate pranksters and tricksters, treating them more like gnomes? And if halflings are more like gnomes, then why have gnomes?

There are opportunities to integrate halflings into a world, but they aren't quite so easy to plop down into a setting as dwarves and elves. I still haven't quite figured out how to make them work in my campaign that doesn't feel like a one-off rather than a separate species. But I did finally find a space for gnomes, which I'll discuss in another article.

Your Turn: How have you integrated halflings into your campaign world?

 

[Maxperson]

well those are the two non magic options in the phb thus unless all halflings never make it past level 2 they end up as them somehow?

Thief is just a name attached to skills useful for adventuring. I can pick the thief subclass and not go around breaking all kinds of laws. Assassin is more problematic, but is easily avoided by the non-bad apple LG halflings.

 

[James Gasik]

We are in agreement. Unlike in certain previous editions, proficiency in Stealth isn’t locked to certain classes. Any class can be proficient in Stealth, as can any NPC.

If that is the case, the necessary conclusion is that Hobbits aren’t halflings, since Stoutfoot halflings don’t get anything that helps with Stealth, nor do Eberron halflings, or Ghostwise halflings or Lotusden halflings.

You’ve made the case that hobbits aren’t halflings, since most halflings aren’t particular good at Stealth.

Did we actually see any halflings demonstrate any expertise in hiding? I haven’t read the Hobbit or LotR recently, but my recollection is that the only examples of successful hiding occur when Bilbo (or Frodo) is using the One Ring.

In addition to Tolkien's own statements about Hobbit stealth, yes. First, we have the scene where Bilbo sneaks up on the Trolls. Second, there's the scene where Frodo, Sam, Pippin, and Merry are hiding from Ringwraiths as they leave the Shire.

 

[James Gasik]

It might help to think of halflings as kender, which, in a lot of ways, they are. It's a bit weird because, as you say, the other races tend to flow organically into certain classes that fit pretty well with how the race is presented. Dragonborn and half orcs and dwarves tend to be martial type characters - fighters, paladins, barbarians, that sort of thing. Elves tend to go with wizards or rangers. Tieflings obviously have a pretty strong warlock vibe. Gnomes fit well with artificers, obviously, but, that suffers for not being core. I wonder if artificers being in core in the rerelease (does anyone think artificers won't be included?) might not give gnomes a serious boost.

But halflings funnel into rogues. Dex race, hiding bonuses for some of the halflings, that sort of thing. Mechanically it makes perfect sense. But, again, there's a disconnect between how the race is presented - lovers of comfort and fine things, and how they tend to get played - sneaky rogue/scout types.

It's a very good point I think. For a race that is supposed to be grounded in community, wouldn't clerics make a lot more sense? Or maybe druids? Kinda/sorta? Then again, in the early days of the game, halflings couldn't even BE clerics. So, I don't think there's much push in that direction.

As I recall, in 1e, they could be Druids though.

 

[James Gasik]

Yes and no. If a dwarven cleric went adventuring, it wouldn't be out of the ordinary. If a dwarven fighter went adventuring, it wouldn't be out of the ordinary. You see this a lot as they are a race that is prone to adventuring. Halflings are not, so adventurers are atypical of their race.

You can still use a lot of halfling lore in your adventurer, though, if that's what you want to do. You can draw on it for the reason the halfling is adventuring. You can pick an atypical halfling reason, revenge for killing my father. Or you can draw on the lore and use the wanderlust, being a bad apple, curiosity or more.

Halflings are called out as being a good choice for a sneaky rogue and rogues are mentioned twice in the halfling write-up in Mordenkainen's.

That makes sense. They have a history of being rogues, have a dex bonus of +2, have luck to re-roll those skill checks of 1, can move through enemy spaces to get to where they need to be, and I suspect most of those halflings were lightfoots to be able to hide behind party members. It's a great race for that class.

Well, the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (I posted the excerpt upthread) says that Lightfoot Halflings are travelers who often visit other cities, so I'd say that would make them likely to be adventurers.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Thief is just a name attached to skills useful for adventuring. I can pick the thief subclass and not go around breaking all kinds of laws. Assassin is more problematic, but is easily avoided by the non-bad apple LG halflings.

Hells bells, an “assassin” is just an asymmetrical warrior, at the end of the day. Imagining a LG halfling assassin should be pretty easy, IMO.

Certainly, every assassin I’ve played has been some manner of “Good”.

 

[Maxperson]

Hells bells, an “assassin” is just an asymmetrical warrior, at the end of the day. Imagining a LG halfling assassin should be pretty easy, IMO.

That's why I said "more problematic" and not impossible. The abilities are more weighted towards infiltration and death strikes to vital spots than the other rogue subclasses, which makes it a bit harder to work around LG.

Certainly, every assassin I’ve played has been some manner of “Good”.

I could see NG and CG much more easily than LG for an assassin. I did have a CE Drow Assassin/Shadowdancer in 3e once. Talk about nasty.

 

[James Gasik]

It was like my examples before of snipers like Carlos Hathcock or Simo Hayha- one could certainly argue they were "assassins", but certainly not Evil. In fact, since Simo was simply defending his country from invaders, and sought no praise or glory, simply wanting to return to his normal life, if someone wanted to claim he was Lawful Good, I sure wouldn't argue the topic.

 

[Maxperson]

It was like my examples before of snipers like Carlos Hathcock or Simo Hayha- one could certainly argue they were "assassins", but certainly not Evil. In fact, since Simo was simply defending his country from invaders, and sought no praise or glory, simply wanting to return to his normal life, if someone wanted to claim he was Lawful Good, I sure wouldn't argue the topic.

I wouldn't argue either, mostly because I don't give to shakes of a rat's tail about alignment on the player side of things. They'll roleplay their character how they envision it and the world will respond. They can write down LG, NG, AB, 123 or whatever on their sheet.

 

[ECMO3]

Sure, nothing in 5e suggests a Rogue can't be Lawful Good.

However "Thief who breaks the laws" or "Assassin" are not archetypes generally associated with Lawful Good, hence the disconnect between the expected halfling lore and the expected halfling archetype that they pointed out.

I don't think that is true though. If you are talking about halflings in particular a Lawful-Good Burglar, like Bilbo, IS the archetype.

To break this in to two parts- first "good" - If killing people is inherently evil then so are many of the Lawful Good archetypes. Think of all the killing Paladins and Clerics of Tyr engage in! If we are going to accept such characters as "good" then we need to assume that killing itself, as an assassin specializes, is not inherently evil.

As far as lawful, certainly "Thief" and "Assasin" include a thematic bias towards lawbreaking, however there are plenty of state-sanctioned "Lawful" assasins in the D&D lore and the assasins guilds themselves are emblematic of a "lawful" persuit. So even here it is not ironclad and these are only two of the available Rogue subclasses.

Other subclasses do not have any baggage and the class itself has nothing tied to lawbreaking or evil in terms of mechanics. Masterminds, inquisotor and swashbuckler have no subclass abilities or thematics tied to breaking the law and such thematics are pretty thin on Arcane Trickster and Phantom.

Suggesting the Halfling Rogue Archetype can not be lawful good because one subclass "thief" is not inherently lawful is like suggesting the Asimar Cleric archetype can't be Lawful Good because one subclass "Death Cleric" engages in Necromancy and that is tied to evil.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Where in the halfling lore does it say that they go around breaking laws and assassinating people? I'm not seeing the disconnect between a LG halfling rogue and and the halfling lore.

Nowhere in the halfling lore. Those refer to the classes.

You know, Thief which "You hone your skills in the larcenous arts. Burglars, bandits, cutpurses, and other criminals typically follow this archetype, but so do rogues who prefer to think of themselves as professional treasure seekers, explorers, delvers, and investigators."

Now, granted there are the other archetypes, the "professional treasure seekers" "explorers" "delvers" and "investigators", however the archetype is named THIEF not explorer or treasure seeker. So I'm going to guess it is more common to find criminals amongst them.

And then the Assassin which says "You focus your training on the grim art of death. Those who adhere to this archetype are diverse—hired killers, spies, bounty hunters, and even specially anointed priests trained to exterminate the enemies of their deity."

Again, there is wiggle room, you could be a priest trained in the art of murdering people for god, but the first part is about being a hired killer and the archetype is named ASSASSIN not "bounty hunter" or "priest"

And of course all Rogues get thieves cant, examples of which involve "such as whether an area is dangerous or the territory of a thieves' guild, whether loot is nearby, or whether the people in an area are easy marks or will provide a safe house for thieves on the run."

All of which HEAVILY implies that they will be breaking the laws. Again, you totally can have Rogues who are Lawful Good, but the common archetype of the rogue, like Han Solo, isn't a law abiding citizen who is strongly in favor of the laws. The rogue in fact seems very geared towards breaking the law, which is not something typically associated with Lawful people. So it is strange that a race so heavily associated with the class doesn't fit the archetype.